THE RESPONSE

West victims may never financially recover from explosion

Residents got early boost, but $30 million in needs hasn't been covered by aid, donations, insurance

Written bySARAH MERVOSH | STAFF WRITER

Published October 4, 2013

Six months after a deadly fertilizer plant explosion here wiped out much of the north end of town, the city will be rebuilt — but for whom?

Federal and state aid will go a long way toward making sure the town — its roads and schools, for example — gets back to where it was before April's explosion. But victims of the blast — the people who would use those roads and schools — have no such assurance.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given just under $840,000 to victims in West — about one-seventh of what it has allocated for state and local government. That's because federal response to disasters isn't designed to ensure individual recovery, experts say.

An estimated $30 million in unmet needs remain among residents in West, officials said at a news conference Thursday.

"There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," said Frannie Edwards, a professor at San Jose State University who is an expert in disaster response. "Nobody is going to come with a check to make you whole."

As explosion victims live out the consequences of an imperfect disaster response system and a hands-off Texas government that emphasizes personal responsibility, they're coming to grips with a difficult reality:

Many of them may never get back to where they were before April 17.

FEMA aid

James Johnson is a lifelong resident of West whose home more than a mile from the blast site suffered minor damage. He said he knows more than a handful of people who've moved away since the blast because of frustration over finances.

"If there ain't no citizens, there ain't no city," he said. "It takes people to make a city. Those are the ones you should be looking out for."

But that's not how the government's disaster response works.

FEMA has agreed to fund 75 percent of the city and state's expenses for recovery in West. And it helped residents get back on their feet. Experts say at first that means meals and hotel stays, and then a little later, basics like a bed — but not multiple changes of sheets.

"Their mantra for individuals and households is: 'We're not here to make you whole. We're here to get you started on recovery,'" said Brad Gair, formerly a coordinating officer for FEMA who is now leading housing recovery in New York City following Hurricane Sandy.

So after the emergency phase, residents are left to rely on their savings, insurance if they have it, and low-interest government loans and donations. Experts say there is no single governmental agency responsible for individual recovery.

"The expectation is that you have some capability to finance some of your own losses," Edwards said.

But nearly 50 percent of victims in West were uninsured or underinsured, according to the West Long Term Recovery Center, the local nonprofit coordinating individual assistance.

West school board member Crystal Anthony surveyed her damaged home in West in May. Hers was among hundreds of homes damaged in the April 17 explosion. (The Associated Press)

Those are the people FEMA is supposed to help — it can't duplicate needs covered by insurance or another means. But of more than 800 households in West that applied for FEMA aid, fewer than 250 were approved.

A FEMA spokeswoman said some applicants had insurance coverage that disqualified them, and hundreds more didn't complete their paperwork and could still be eligible. She wouldn't say how many were denied.

Of those who were approved, only four received the maximum grant of $31,900 as of mid-September. One family received a grant for as little as $80, according to data FEMA provided to The Dallas Morning News.

Cindy Grones, a 52-year-old X-ray technician whose home was demolished in the blast, said she was among residents denied help from FEMA. She was told it was because of her insurance coverage and income.

"In order to get a grant from FEMA, you've got to be almost destitute," West Mayor Tommy Muska said. "You can't be a middle-class person who had insurance who had an average wage."

For victims like Grones, the federal government offers low-interest loans. The Small Business Administration has approved more than $9 million in loans for West. But this form of aid isn't a check — it's a loan that must be paid back — and it's unclear how many residents accepted.

Grones decided she'd rather take loan through her bank because it came with fewer restrictions. "It's worth paying a little bit extra percentage without all that hassle," she said.

As residents sort out their options, they're waiting for about $3.6 million in charitable donations to be distributed. That's about four times what FEMA has given to victims in unencumbered grants. Donation distribution could begin as early as next week.

Filling in the gaps

Disasters like West raise questions that often don't have simple answers.

One is: "Do we feel, as a nation, that everybody is entitled to get back into the house they were in before a disaster or not?" said Gair, the housing recovery director in New York City.

And the follow-up is: If so, who should be responsible for seeing that through?

Some states are taking on partial responsibility.

After Hurricane Sandy, for example, Gair said, New York set aside millions of dollars for residents who had more damage than FEMA could help with. Theoretically, some New Yorkers could have gotten up to $20,000 from the state for housing recovery, he said.

Ohio offers a state grant and loan program to residents to supplement what FEMA and the Small Business Administration provide, according to the state's emergency management agency.

In Texas, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs has allocated about $400,000 that eligible West residents could draw on for long-term housing recovery.

Otherwise, "I can't say that there is a specified program in Texas that is to make up for not having insurance on your home," said Josh Havens, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. He said the Legislature could discuss it during its next session.

The disaster in West has acted as a test for the state's laissez-faire style of government, and even challenged the beliefs of the mayor.

"I don't want government help … but I'm also for the middle-class Joe that just kind of needs a little bit of help," Muska said. "I don't know, maybe that's an oxymoron."

As it stands, people in West will have to rely on volunteer groups and the generosity of others to fill in the gaps.

"West doesn't want much," said Grones, who lost her home. "All we want is to be back where we were before the explosion."